Interview with Corbett Barr: Less Thinking, More Doing

In this podcast episode, I’m joined by very special guest, Corbett Barr. Corbett is the co-founder and CEO of Fizzle, an online business training resource plus community for indie entrepreneurs.

In the show, Corbett and I discuss building an audience, building an online business, doing your best creative work over the long-run of a decades-long career, how to focus on doing the work, and more.

Show Highlights

Building an audience is different than serving an audience.

Genuine relationships are critical. Do what you can to foster one-on-one friendships with people that will help you push through difficult seasons as a creative entrepreneur.

Two ways to keep doing great creative work for years and years is to (a) get smart and energetic people on board who can help spark ideas and contribute to the content creation process; and (b) keep an idea journal and learn to synthesize incoming information so you always have something to pull from.

Two ways Corbett recommends maintaining margin for your creative energy is to travel and exercise. Traveling gets you into a different environment and a change of scenery, where you will think about things and life differently. Exercise keeps your mind and body healthy, which contributes to both your short- and long-term creativity and productivity.

Doing the work is a matter of self discipline. There is the “CEO” version of you that will have the ideas and strategy. And there is the “Worker Bee” version of you that needs to do the work.

For the overwhelmed entrepreneur, you need to optimize. Do this by: (1) Look at your overall schedule and challenge any assumptions about how you “have to” or “should” be spending your time. Do what you can to create a few extra hours in your week. Then, (2) focus less on thinking and focus more on doing. Especially in the early days of building a business. Lastly, (3) focus on results. What are the things you can do that will bring doubt a disproportionate return on your energy investment. Also, experiment and learn.

For someone who is trying to gain traction on their business or side project: the two main areas of focus should be building an audience and building a product. You want to start making money as soon as possible. Not big bucks, but just something to help you validate your ideas and begin turning your audience into customers.

Advice to those in the “content creation” space is that the fears you have about making products for your audience and serving them are all in your head. There are mental hurdles you need to overcome as an entrepreneur, and as you do then you get more comfortable selling things to your audience and promoting your work with clarity and authority.